Go to work on Sat morning for a few hours, then head out to my friends house by noon for a nice long day of beer, good food, ball busting, stupid bets on draft picks, and then a nice card game till the early hours of the next day. One of my favorite days of the year. We'd get about thirty people there every year and still have ten for cards at night.

But NOOOO!

The @#$%^ NFL has to go and put the first round on Thurs, then a few rounds on Friday, and then the rest on Saturday, totally making one of the best "guy" days of the year go the route of the buggy whip.

Takes all the fun out of it.

koolaidluke

Apr 21 2012, 02:01 PM

Goodell is a homo

Dreagon

Apr 21 2012, 02:56 PM

Yep. But it lets them spread the thing out in order to soak up maximum advertising dollars.

I know that the NFL has always been a business, but I miss the days when it at least pretended to be mainly a sport. Now it's like a reality show built around the occasional football game.

TGryn

Apr 21 2012, 03:18 PM

I hate the change also, but the TV ratings went way up after moving to prime time. They know they're going to get the people who were tuning in on the weekend previously anyway, so its an opportunity to appeal to a larger audience = $.

For me, this is the first year I'm not buying a draft guide. I'd rather dig up information afterwards about the guys the Eagles actually selected, rather than spend time researching a ton of "maybes" who end up not being taken. Maybe its just that I've gotten busier with other things as I've gotten older, but draft research isn't as much fun as it used to be for me. With the advent of PFT and other online sources now there also so many rumors that fly around this time of year that it becomes impossible to sort out the real from the fake.

Dreagon

Apr 21 2012, 03:44 PM

QUOTE (TGryn @ Apr 21 2012, 03:18 PM)

With the advent of PFT and other online sources now there also so many rumors that fly around this time of year that it becomes impossible to sort out the real from the fake.

Therein lies the problem with today's internet. At first it put lots of useful information at our fingertips. But then it grew and the background noise has almost swallowed everything up.

nephillymike

Apr 21 2012, 04:35 PM

QUOTE (TGryn @ Apr 21 2012, 03:18 PM)

I hate the change also, but the TV ratings went way up after moving to prime time. They know they're going to get the people who were tuning in on the weekend previously anyway, so its an opportunity to appeal to a larger audience = $.

For me, this is the first year I'm not buying a draft guide. I'd rather dig up information afterwards about the guys the Eagles actually selected, rather than spend time researching a ton of "maybes" who end up not being taken. Maybe its just that I've gotten busier with other things as I've gotten older, but draft research isn't as much fun as it used to be for me. With the advent of PFT and other online sources now there also so many rumors that fly around this time of year that it becomes impossible to sort out the real from the fake.

Yeah. This is the 3rd year I didn't do research ahead of time. It coincides with the change in the TV and the ruination of a good party. I used to get the info together for any of the guys at the party who were into it. They used to rely on my cheat sheets. Life events as you get older does have a way of getting in the way also. This growing up really sucks!

Dr. Claw

Apr 22 2012, 06:50 AM

QUOTE (Dreagon @ Apr 21 2012, 03:56 PM)

I know that the NFL has always been a business, but I miss the days when it at least pretended to be mainly a sport. Now it's like a reality show built around the occasional football game.

I couldn't have described it any better. LOL!

Jerome Brown Experience

Apr 22 2012, 12:25 PM

I'll admit it, I love the change. I love that I can watch the first round completely isolated from my kids (who are in bed for most of it) and on the off chance that my wife gets pissy about the whole deal I can sit and fold laundry while texting and following the draft on tv and the internet, problem solved.

If I was younger I may well feel differently. But as a guy who hasn't watched any Eagles televised event between 12:00 and 8:00 without some kid asking me to fix his or her whatever-the-shit-is-going-to-irritate-me-at-that-time in over 10 years, the first round on Thursday night works pretty well for me.

Please note, I love the Eagles and hate my kids so I may not come at this from a commonly held point of view.

nephillymike

Apr 22 2012, 03:09 PM

Well I must admit JB, I don't think any of us at that party ever folded laundry while watching the draft. The only thing being folded were lousy poker hands!

Now if you were not home but over a friend's house, the wife's pissyness and the kids intusive nature would be a problem for when you return home, whenever you choose that to be.

Rick

Apr 23 2012, 06:51 AM

Honestly, I've never watched nor cared to watch the draft. I wait until it's over, see who the Birds drafted and, well wait for the season. I can't get too emotionally-involved in players who may never even make the team. But that's just me.

I just think the NFL has gone overboard on exposure. Draft day was NEVER and event back in the day. The hard core fans--like many of us around here--would anxiously await draft day to see who our favorite team would draft (I wasn't one of those even though I'm a big fan.). The papers would report the higher picks. Local sports shows would go deeper on the picks for the home team. But, at some point, ESPN came along and blew it up with the help of the NFL.

They've now done it with the stupid schedule. As was mentioned around here before, the announcing of the schedule is now an event. It's a flippin' schedule and there's absolutely NOTHING any of us can do about it.

I've said it before, Goodell is doing to the NFL what Stern did to the NBA...ruining it. I haven't been able to watch the NBA for at least 10 years. Football isn't there yet but it's quickly headed that direction. I understand it's a business but it's really gotten ridiculous.

Jerome Brown Experience

Apr 23 2012, 01:23 PM

That's a little harsh. Watching the draft provides context for why your team does what it does and it lets you have a football coma of imagination as you think about a 5th round DE becoming the next Reggie White as the Kiper highlight reel shows him blowing up players from East Alabama, SUNY Fairport and Southern Tennessee State.

The draft is also a great time to think about what an idiot you are. I remember being ready to go down and set the Vet on fire when the Eagles wasted a 3rd round pick on this RB from Villanova. Similarly I was certain that Akili Smith would be 500 times the QB that Donovan McNabb would be. And how could the Eagles pass over the awesomeness that would be the pro careers of Andy Katzenmoyer and Paul Poz.......that guy from Penn State.

Basketball has been ruined by the huge volume of kids leaving college after one year and not developing any form of game. The NFL has a great product and are getting it out there.

Rick

Apr 23 2012, 03:48 PM

QUOTE (Jerome Brown Experience @ Apr 23 2012, 02:23 PM)

That's a little harsh. Watching the draft provides context for why your team does what it does and it lets you have a football coma of imagination as you think about a 5th round DE becoming the next Reggie White as the Kiper highlight reel shows him blowing up players from East Alabama, SUNY Fairport and Southern Tennessee State.

The draft is also a great time to think about what an idiot you are. I remember being ready to go down and set the Vet on fire when the Eagles wasted a 3rd round pick on this RB from Villanova. Similarly I was certain that Akili Smith would be 500 times the QB that Donovan McNabb would be. And how could the Eagles pass over the awesomeness that would be the pro careers of Andy Katzenmoyer and Paul Poz.......that guy from Penn State.

Basketball has been ruined by the huge volume of kids leaving college after one year and not developing any form of game. The NFL has a great product and are getting it out there.

Not harsh but not everyone feels the same way about the draft as you (and many others do). Not saying you're wrong at all. I get it. I just don't care much about the draft. The NFL blew it up to much more than what it is. You don't see them doing this to MLB or even the NBA draft (although they're trying). I know, there was the whole #1 pick lottery show, etc. But it's still different than the NFL.

Basketball was ruined long before kids started coming out of school early to play. They didn't ruin the game, it was already ruined. The NBA barely resembles what a real basketball game is any longer. At least the NFL is still football although it's becoming more and more watered-down. Unfortunately, that's exactly what Stern did--watered it down to increase the interest in the league. It worked, unfortunately, it ruined the league in the process.

While I'm not giving up on the NFL anytime soon, I will say I'm sick of all of this crap they've done to over-hype things. I'm sorry, most fans could care less about the draft...other than who their team drafts first and, quite frankly, MOST fans (not talking about the die hards) don't even care about that unless their team has the 1st pick.

HOUSEoPAIN

Apr 24 2012, 11:13 AM

Personally, I haven't given a shit about the draft since the second we picked Kevin Kolb. I kept watching, then we traded our next two picks I think, so I ended up wasting about 3 hours for nothing. *edit* Nah we got Abiamiri, then BRadley and Hunt (same as wasting picks), THEN not another one for a long time.

Don't get me wrong, I still pay attention, casually. But the current administration really has taken the fun out of it - you KNOW we're going to trade picks, and probably make a useless one or two. I'm the eternal pessimist eh?

make_it_rain

Apr 24 2012, 12:09 PM

QUOTE (HOUSEoPAIN @ Apr 24 2012, 12:13 PM)

I'm the eternal pessimist eh?

Comes with the territory of being an Eagles fan

I'm kind of in the same boat. Of course I'm going to pay attention to who is picked by whom, but the way this is drug out into some huge, revenue squeezing spectacle for that POS Goodell really sucks. I really like the older draft formats better.

That being said, I have been pretty impressed with the work the FO has done so far, so maybe this is the year they reverse the trend and have a great draft?

That's the funny thing with this team, I am about as bearish as they come, yet somehow, at random intervals, they always find a way to get me optimistic / excited, which makes the inevitable free-fall back to reality once they massively under-perform that much more crushing

Dreagon

Apr 24 2012, 05:39 PM

Another hard part about this is the wife and kids sometimes want the TV on Thursday nights. I used to hog the TV on a Saturday with only superficial grumbling and got to see most of the draft, but now it's all prolonged and barely worth it.

Jerome Brown Experience

Apr 24 2012, 11:06 PM

QUOTE (Dreagon @ Apr 24 2012, 06:39 PM)

Another hard part about this is the wife and kids sometimes want the TV on Thursday nights. I used to hog the TV on a Saturday with only superficial grumbling and got to see most of the draft, but now it's all prolonged and barely worth it.

There is a strategy for this too - the internets. I will go to extreme lengths to avoid my family when sports are on. I have a ton of illicit Russian websites that show live feeds of.....pretty much everything actually, but I use them for sports.

mcnabbulous

Apr 25 2012, 10:47 AM

I always like the draft because I'm always right about it...

But then again, I'm really vain.

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